As Donald Trump's election victory in the United States raises the prospect of talks to end the war in Ukraine, Kiev is scrambling to build the best possible position for any type of negotiation, including providing additional weapons and frontline resistance.
A senior Ukrainian official told Reuters that the next four to five months will be crucial, suggesting that Trump's return to the White House is focusing Kiev's attention on a possible end to the war. Trump, who will be sworn in on January 20, has said he will end the war quickly, but has not explained how.
“This winter is a critical point... I hope the war is coming to an end. Now we will define the starting positions for both parties in the negotiations," the official told the British agency, who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the topic.
Officials are waiting to see who Trump picks for key security and defense positions to get clues about what kind of policy he will pursue toward Ukraine. He excluded former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is seen in Kyiv as pro-Ukrainian.
Republican US Senator Bill Hagerty, a Trump ally and one of the main candidates for the position of Secretary of State, criticized US funding of Ukraine in a recent interview with CBS.
"The American people want sovereignty protected here in America before we spend our funds and resources protecting the sovereignty of another country," Hagerti said.
Yesterday, the Kremlin dismissed reports that Trump had spoken with Vladimir Putin in recent days as "pure fiction."
A Reuters source said on Sunday that Trump recently spoke with Putin and told him not to escalate the war in Ukraine, which was first reported by the Washington Post, citing unnamed sources.
The spokesman of the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, said yesterday that such a call did not happen. “This is completely false. It is pure fiction, fake news," he told reporters. "There was no conversation". "This is the most obvious example of the quality of information that is being published now, sometimes even in quite reputable publications," he added.
When asked if Putin is planning contact with Trump, Peskov said: "There are no concrete plans for now."
When asked about the alleged conversation between Trump and Putin, Stephen Chung, Trump's communications director, said: "We do not comment on private conversations between President Trump and other world leaders."
Russia on the Ukrainian front is advancing at the fastest pace since 2022, despite heavy losses, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday that Kiev's forces are fighting almost 50.000 enemy soldiers in Russia's Kursk region.
The Russian military has assembled a force of 50.000 troops, including North Korean troops, to launch an offensive to retake territory seized by Ukraine in Russia's Kursk region, US and Ukrainian officials told The New York Times.
According to the American assessment, Russia managed to gather these forces without withdrawing troops from eastern Ukraine, the main priority on the battlefield, which allows Moscow to fight on several fronts simultaneously.
Ukraine said last Sunday that it had clashes with some of the roughly 11.000 North Korean troops deployed in Russia's Kursk region. Those soldiers wear Russian uniforms and have been equipped by Moscow, but they will likely fight in special units, US defense officials told The Times.
Faced with manpower shortages, Ukrainian forces have lost some of the territory they captured during the Kursk offensive in August, which Zelensky said could serve as a bargaining chip.
After having what he said was an "excellent" phone conversation with Trump on Wednesday, Zelenskiy said the next day that he was convinced that a quick end to the war would entail significant concessions by Kiev.
"If it happens quickly, it means losses for Ukraine. I just don't yet understand how it could be any different. Maybe we don't know something, we don't see it," said Zelenski.
He also criticized the idea of a ceasefire without first obtaining firm security guarantees for Ukraine, which would prevent Russia from launching a larger attack later.
"It's a very scary challenge for our citizens: first a ceasefire, then we'll see. Who are you? Are your children dying?” Zelenski said, apparently addressing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who proposed a ceasefire.
In June, Putin outlined his terms for ending the war: Ukraine would have to give up its NATO ambitions and withdraw troops from the entire territory of the four regions that Russia claims as its own, which Kiev sees as an act of capitulation.
The Ukrainian public is skeptical that Russia is really interested in negotiations, but its main demand, if they happen, is for Ukraine to receive adequate security guarantees, said Anton Grushetsky, executive director of the KIIS polling agency.
An official from Kiev said that after Trump's victory, it seems "less likely" that Ukraine will receive an invitation to NATO, and admitted that there is a risk that Trump could cut aid.
"I hope the Biden administration will try to avoid this risk by accelerating the pace of its aid," the official said.
Another Ukrainian official expressed skepticism that Biden would provide anything significant for Ukraine, such as lifting restrictions on long-range strikes.
"Who is Biden now? He has lost a lot of credibility. I hope he will be brave enough to do something. But I don't have high expectations. It would be great. We are very grateful for his help. He did much, much more than we expected,” the official said.
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